Speech Intelligibility and Listening Effort

Speech Technology and Applied Research Corp.1 个研究点分布在 1 个国家目标入组 72 人开始时间: 2024年8月1日最近更新: 2025年6月25日

适应症

干预措施

试验速览

阶段: 不适用
状态: 已完成
发起方
入组人数: 72
试验地点: 1
主要终点: Target Word Transcription Accuracy

研究概览研究设计入排标准研究组 & 干预措施结局指标研究者研究点记录与标识符相似试验

研究概览

简要总结

Participants received a bilateral pure-tone hearing screen administered by the research team. All potential participants who failed the hearing screen were provided with information about its meaning and referral for further audiological testing.

Participants who passed the hearing screen and other inclusion criteria were divided into 6 groups, each of which were presented with 144 stimuli equally distributed among processing conditions. Listeners choose a comfortable listening level using supplied headphones and were able to control the rate of presentation. Following a short practice session, listeners were be asked to transcribe each target sentence. The intelligibility of each stimulus was estimated by determining the mean percentage of content words correctly transcribed. After transcription, listeners were asked for two qualitative judgments: (1) the "clarity" of the stimulus, and (2) the "listening effort" involved. The quality of each stimulus was estimated by the median quality judgment, and the effort likewise. Listening sessions were located in a quiet room and presentation was controlled by the Superlab presentation software program.

Collectively, the estimates of word intelligibility, clarity, and listening effort under the different conditions shed light on the effectiveness with which the tested algorithm preserves listener intelligibility with acceptable effort and quality.

详细描述

Participants received a bilateral pure-tone hearing screen administered by a clinically trained member of the research team. The threshold criteria was 20 dB SPL at 250 and 500 Hz, and 25 dB SPL at 1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz. All potential participants who failed the hearing screen were provided with information about its meaning and referred for further audiological testing.

Participants who passed the hearing screen and other inclusion criteria were divided into 6 groups, each of which was presented with 144 stimuli equally distributed among processing conditions (Pristine Non-Moving Speech plus QoS Levels 1-5). Listeners self-selected a comfortable listening level using supplied headphones and were able to control the rate of presentation. Following a short practice session, listeners were asked to transcribe the target sentences, and the intelligibility of each stimulus was estimated by determining the mean percentage of content words correctly transcribed. After transcription, listeners were also asked for two qualitative judgments using a visual analog scale: (1) the "clarity" of the stimulus, and (2) the "listening effort" involved. These measures are sensitive to situations where listeners manage to extract the uttered words from the signal, but with increasing difficulty. The quality of each stimulus was estimated by the median quality judgment, and the effort likewise. Listening sessions took place in a quiet room and presentation was controlled by the Superlab presentation software program.

The Stimuli consisted of audio recordings of target spondaic words embedded in a carrier sentence produced by a male and a female native speaker of American English recorded under quiet conditions. Each stimulus presented to the listeners for identification was either unmasked pristine speech or speech that had have been processed in one of five ways with different mixtures of noise and sensor movement. The latter are identified as QoS Levels 1-5. Each type of processing was expected to have a different effect on the underlying probability that the listener would be able to correctly identify the spoken word, the effort required to do so, and the quality of the presented recording. Data on familiarity ratings for the target spondaic words and relative intelligibility of the two speakers under different conditions of noise masking has been previously reported.

Collectively, the estimates of word intelligibility, clarity, and listening effort under the different conditions is expected to shed light on the effectiveness with which the tested algorithm preserves listener intelligibility with acceptable effort and quality.

研究设计

研究类型: Interventional
分配方式: Randomized
干预模型: Crossover
主要目的: Basic Science
盲法: Single (Participant)

入排标准

年龄范围: 18 Years 至 —（Adult, Older Adult）
性别: All
接受健康志愿者: 是

入选标准

•Inclusion criteria will include adult native speakers of American English with auditory thresholds within age-normal limits, defined as passing a pure tone screening test of 20 dB SPL at 250 and 500 Hz, and 25 dB SPL at 1000, 2000, 4000, and 8000 Hz.

排除标准

•will include self-report of hearing difficulties and failure to pass hearing screen.
•No special populations requiring special protections will be utilized in this study. Potential participants who fail the hearing screen will be provided with results and appropriate clinical referral as per the IRB protocol.
•Exclusion Criteria:
•Exclusion criteria will include self-report of hearing difficulties and failure to pass hearing screen.